A stellar 2023 where he finished as the highest run-scorer in T20Is among Full Member nations has seen Suryakumar Yadav bag the men’s T20I cricketer of the year award for the second year running. He beat fellow competitors Sikandar Raza, Alpesh Ramjani and Mark Chapman to take the award home.
Suryakumar started the year scoring just 7 against Sri Lanka but followed it up with scores of 51 (36) and 112 not out (51) in the next two matches. The middle-order batter went from strength to strength in the format thereon. In all, he played 17 T20I innings in 2023, recording 733 runs at 48.86 which included five half-centuries and two hundreds. More importantly, amidst the carnage, he maintained a strike rate of 155.95.
Suryakumar finished the year as the third-highest run-getter among all batters only behind UAE’s Muhammad Waseem (863 in 23 innings) and Uganda’s Roger Mukasa (738 in 31 innings). Both batters, however, played more games than Suryakumar.
The 31-year-old finished 2023 on a high note with a 56-ball 100 against South Africa. With Rohit Sharma opting out and Hardik Pandya injured, Suryakumar was also handed the captaincy of the Indian T20I side. He gave a good account of himself taking India to a 4-1 series win against Australia at home before drawing a three-match series against South Africa 1-1.
Rachin Ravindra wins emerging player of the year
A truly breakthrough year where he lit up the 2023 ODI World Cup has resulted in New Zealand batter Rachin Ravindra winning the men’s emerging player of the year award. He overcame challenges from South Africa fast bowler Gerald Coetzee, Sri Lanka quick Dilshan Madushanka and India batter Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Having made his 50-over debut against Sri Lanka in March, Ravindra played 25 ODIs in 2023, scoring 820 runs at an average of 41.00 while also picking 18 wickets at 46.61. He scored 91 runs in 12 T20Is while taking five wickets but it was his performances at the ODI World Cup that helped him zoom to the top.
Ravindra had a sensational time of it opening the batting for New Zealand as he amassed 578 runs in ten innings at 64.22. He scored two fifties and three centuries and finished as the fourth-highest scorer in the tournament behind Virat Kohli (765), Rohit Sharma (597) and Quinton de Kock (594).
“It’s obviously a very special feeling,” Ravindra said when accepting the award. “Whenever you get recognised by the ICC for something it is always special.
Hayley Matthews crowned women’s T20I cricketer of the year
West Indies captain Hayley Matthews capped off an excellent year by taking home the women’s T20I cricketer of the year award, overcoming stiff competition from Australia’s Ellyse Perry, England’s Sophie Ecclestone, and Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu.
No other batter had more runs than Matthews’ 700 in 14 innings at an average of 63.63. She also picked up 19 wickets at 16.21. Matthews had a particularly stunning tour of Australia in October 2023 where she finished the three-match T20I series with scores of 99*, 132 and 79. Her tally of 310 runs is the most by any player in a women’s T20I bilateral series.
Matthews is the second West Indies player to bag the award after Stafanie Taylor in 2015.
De Leede wins men’s associate cricketer of the year
A key component behind Netherlands qualifying for the main draw of the 2023 ODI World Cup, Bas de Leede has been named the men’s associate cricketer of the year. The allrounder finished the year with 31 wickets in 16 ODIs at 28.26 while also scoring 424 runs at 28.26 with one fifty and one hundred.
In one of the most talked-about all-round performances of the year, de Leede picked 5 for 52 against Scotland in a World Cup qualifier game and then backed it up with a 92-ball 123 to almost single-handedly take Netherlands into the final.
Meanwhile, Kenyan allrounder Queentor Abel has been crowned the women’s associate cricketer of the year. Abel scored 476 runs in 17 T20Is at 34.00 in 2023 with a top score of 109 against Lesotho. She also picked 30 wickets with an average of 7.36 and an economy of 3.81.
Teams of the year
The 2023 ODI World Cup runner-up India dominated the ODI team of the year released by ICC. Rohit Sharma was named captain of the side which had as many as six Indians in the XI. The Australians meanwhile hogged the limelight in ICC’s Test team of the year. The WTC champions had five members in the XI with Pat Cummins leading the side.
Chamari Athapaththu was named captain of the women’s ODI team of the year which had five Australians in the mix. No Indian found a place in the ICC’s women’s team of the year. Athapaththu was also named captain of the women’s T20I team of the year.
Test team of the year: Usman Khawaja, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kane Williamson, Joe Root, Travis Head, Ravindra Jadeja, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (capt), R Ashwin, Mitchell Starc, Stuart Broad
ODI team of the year: Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill, Travis Head, Virat Kohli, Daryl Mitchell, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Marco Jansen, Adam Zampa, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami
T20I team of the year: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Phil Salt, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Mark Chapman, Sikandar Raza, Alpesh Ramjani, Mark Adair, Ravi Bishnoi, Richard Ngarava, Arshdeep Singh
Women’s ODI team of the year: Chamari Athapaththu, Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney (wk), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Ashleigh Gardner, Annabel Sutherland, Nadine de Klerk, Le Tahuhu, Nahida Akter
Women’s T20I team of the year: Chamari Athapaththu (capt), Beth Mooney (wk), Laura Wolvaardt, Hayley Matthews, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Amelia Kerr, Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner, Deepti Sharma, Sophie Ecclestone, Megan Schutt
